Sparking device.



No. 805,790. PATENTED NOV. 28, 190.5.

B. G. GILBOUGH.

SPARKING DEVICE.

APPLIoA'rIoN 11.31 DB0. 3o. 1904.

STATES PATENT OFFICE.

- BENJAMIN GARTSIDE' GILBOUGH, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SPARKING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 28, 1905.

Application filed December 30, 1904. Serial No. 238,926.

To @ZZ whom, it Hefty concern.-

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN GARTsrDE GIL- BOUGH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Sparking Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates particularly to ignition devices for engines; and my primary object is to provide a device of this character having greater quickness and certainty of action and more simple and durable construction than any heretofore known.

The invention is illustrated in its preferred embodiment in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a view, partly in elevation and partly in section, showing my improved ignition device applied to the cylinder of an engine; Fig. 2, a section taken as indicated at line 2 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 a broken view illustrating the manner of vibrating a lever to make and break an electric circuit.

In the construction illustrated, A represents a bushing screwed intoan opening in the cylinder B of an engine. Through this bushing extends the hollow shank c of a small cylinder a. The shank is threaded at its inner end and equipped with a nut a2. between which and a shoulder a3 the bushing is clamped. The cylinder a' is electrically separated from the bushing by insulation at. A contact member c5 projects within the bore of the bushing and bears a platinum tip a, and a companion contact member a7 in the form of a lever is secured to a pivot as, journaled in the lower end of the cylinder. The lower end of the lever bears aplatinum point a, and the upper end is bent and provided with a point am. Vithin the cylinder works a piston a, provided with a downturned flange @12, internally notched or threaded at a, the upper portion remaining smooth and affording a bearing-surface am. A spring 015 causes the point am of the lever to follow the indentations ofthe iange am as the piston moves, thereby making and breaking the circuit of the battery C. The piston has an upwardly extending stem al, upon which bears a spring a" whose upper end is seated in an adjustable cap als, secured by a lock-nut al. Thecap has screw connection with a perforate removable cylinder end a2. To the cap is secured the conductor c, forming a part of the battery circuit. In the course of the conductor is interposed a normally open make-and-break device c. This may constitute a cam c2, operated by the engine-shaft and a contact member c3, into engagement with which the high part of the cam may come at each revolution of the shaft.

1f desired, the make-and-break device may be omitted from the external circuit.

The operation will be readily understood. rlhe piston an rests normally at the lower or inner end of its traverse, in which position the upper end of the lever bears on the surface a and holds the point a out of contact with the point c6. The tension ofthe spring all is preparatorily adjusted, so that when the pressure in the engine-cylinder (during compression of the charge) reaches the proper amount the piston will be forced upward, thereby causing the undulating surface of the iiange au to pass beneath the lever-tip and make and break the circuit at the platinum points. Assuming the external make-andbreak device c to be in use, the external portion of the circuit will be closed at the proper instant to permit current to pass to supply the spark at the exact moment required. Assuming the device c to be dispensed with, the sparking will occur at the exact moment desired provided the spring 0,17 has been preparatorily delicately adjusted to insure movement of the piston au at exactly the proper instant. It will be understood, therefore, that the device c' acts as a safety device, insuring passage of current at proper intervals only, and that where the engine operates under conditions where proper adjustment of the spring au is assured the device c is unnecessary. It is understood, of course, that when the pressure on the lower or inner side of the piston a is relieved the piston is depressed by its spring, restablishing the normal broken condition of the internal portion of the electric circuit.

It is obvious that the present invention dispenses with secondary circuits andalso with electromagnets with their attendant disadvantages. It is evident that the new construction has peculiar advantages when used in connection with high-speed engines.

Many changes in details of construction are feasible. Hence no undue limitation should be understood from the foregoing detailed description.

It is to be remarked that while in the construction shown the movable inner contact member is actuated wholly by the pressure of the mixture within the engine-cylinder in one direction of movement of the piston and by IOS IIO

springpressure in the other direction of movement of said piston, still the construction may be varied in this respect, the gas-pressure being utilized in the actuation of the movable contact member in a partial degree only, if desired. rlhe reciprocating motion of the Contact member is not essential to the invention. The piston may rotate or be rotated on its axis to bring a Jfresh bearing-surface beneath the lever-tip (L10.

What I regard as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. An ignition device for the purpose set forth, comprising an oscillating contact member presented to the charge in the engine-cylinder, a gas-actuated member serving to oscillate said contact member, and means for restoring said last-named member to its normal position after the gas-pressure is relieved.

2. An ignition device com prisingacylinder, a gas-actuated spring-retracted piston provided With a part having an undulating surface, and relatively movable contact members, one of which is actuated through the medium of the undulating surface of the piston, for the purpose set forth.

3. An ignition device comprising a bushing, a cylinder insulatingly mounted thereon, acontact member carried by the bushing, a contact member pivot-ed in the cylinder, and a gasactuated spring-retracted piston having an undulating surface presented to said secondnamed contact member, for the purpose set forth.

BENJAMIN GARTSIDE GILBOUGH. In presence of- L. HEIsLAR, J. H. LANDES. 

